Saturday, January 2, 2010

Finally -Travel Plans!!

On Tuesday, December 29, Sheri at CCAI let us know that she had received our Consulate Appointment, and that we had to be in Hong Kong on January 8! We have been waiting for this appointment date since October 13! To arrive in Hong Kong on that day, we have to leave the U.S. on the 6th. You don't have to look at a calendar to know that time was short, so we immediately called Todd Gallinek, a travel agent specializing in adoption trips. I can't praise Todd enough for the work he did to get us the best route and ticket prices. I feel like Todd and I became best friends after all of the phone calls and emails we exchanged over a 2-day period.

We are scheduled to fly from St. Louis on Wednesday at 3:20 in the afternoon on American Airlines. After changing planes in Chicago, we will land in San Francisco. At 12:05 (yes, midnight), we leave San Francisco on Cathay Pacific Airlines for a 15 hour international flight to Hong Kong. Our total travel time will be around 24 hours. Due to crossing through several time zones, we will arrive on Friday morning at 7 am.

We'll meet the other CCAI families (there are 10 of us) in Hong Kong, spend Saturday getting to know each other and preparing for Sunday. Sunday, you see, is when we leave Hong Kong for Nanchang and...have Gotcha Day! Gotcha Day is a well-known day for any family that has adopted a child. This is the day we get Carly! From this day forward, Carly will be in our arms!

Now, we will have two things to celebrate on January 10th. Gotcha Day and Sandy's birthday. I think this is the best birthday present she will every receive.